Thousands of online shoppers are embracing eCommerce furniture stores, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for you could get a raw deal, or, worse, be the victim of an online shopping scam. You can safely buy home furniture online, but you need to know what to look for in the best and most trustworthy online furniture retailers.
A reputable and customer-oriented item you should look for is product guides. A lot of online furniture dealers offer huge inventories. While having that larger selection makes it easier to find the home furniture you love, it also gives you far too many possibilities to narrow them down without some introspection of what you want or what you need the space to be.
One of the bonuses to buying home furniture from local dealers is that you have someone offering personalized customer service, helping you make the decision that best meets your needs. While you won’t necessarily get one on one customer assistance, the best online furniture stores do offer product guides designed to help you make a decision based on common needs.
Free delivery
Almost every eCommerce site currently active on the web has some type of free delivery offer. It may be “for a limited time” or part of a sale event. It might be tied to an order amount or the purchase of particular items. When it comes to furniture, different types of furniture offer different types of delivery, with most options being free in metropolitan or urban areas. Keep in mind that even if you meet the other requirements to receive free delivery, you might need to pay additional delivery surcharges if you require delivery to a rural area.
Large clearance selections
The best online furniture stores offer a large selection of clearance items. This furniture may technically be from another season, but the bottom line is that most people expect their home furniture to last for quite a while. That means last season’s offerings are still just as relevant today. Your local furniture store may also offer a small selection of clearance items, but for the most part, they don’t have the inventory storage space to hold clearance items long term.
Prices should be low – but not too good to be true
Precisely because they offer a large selection of furniture on clearance, most online furniture stores will be able to boast an “up to” percentage discount on their site. But that doesn’t mean all of the furniture on the site is discounted at that rate.
If you see a furniture site where every single price is slashed by half or more, you should probably run the other way. When prices seem too good to be true, they probably are. Beware of hidden shipping or delivery charges as well.
Check reviews of the furniture store and desired brand
Once you narrow down which furniture you want for your home, you should check reviews online to make sure you are working with a respectable retailer. In addition to checking the reviews for the online store, check reviews for the brand and the collection you have chosen. Aside from quality, look for comments about delivery and returns.
